Fare

News from Milepoint this morning about disturbing changes from American Airlines. They have gutted their year-old choice fare bundles in a fairly substantial way. There’s been no official announcement, just a quiet change to the terms & conditions. Here’s what we’re seeing so far: Choice Essential: American appears to have removed the change fee waiver from this offering, according to their website. Now, $58 buys you a free checked bag, group 1 boarding and the ability to earn AAdvantage miles. That last statement scares me a bit as it positions […]

Virgin America launched a one-day fare sale that’s only valid until midnight today. I checked a few fares from my home city of Washington-Dulles. I was able to confirm $146 one-way fares to LAX and $156 one-way to San Francisco. Looks like most of the fares run from the beginning of November through the end of February next year. So, if you’re looking to get a head start on re-qualification, here’s a good start.

There’s no doubt in my mind that airlines are a very complicated business to run. Planes, crews, fares and a million other details to manage. And yet, it really does surprise me that there are still some pretty blatant shortcomings in the reliability of the technology the airlines use on a daily basis. It’s always best to keep an eye out for these glitches, since they can both help and hurt, sometimes in significant ways. After all, it was just a few days ago United Airlines was selling free tickets […]

I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with the original announcement that American Airlines was creating bundled pricing that included change fees at a lower apparent cost. Things got a little better when American also announced they were expanding the timeframe you could request a same day change to your flight. And, then things started to get a bit screwy. It started with just one flight I couldn’t get to price right with Choice Plus as an add-on. But, then I did a bit more digging and found out […]

I’m a guy who changes his tickets frequently enough that I incur my fair share of change fees (and then some). Plans change, that’s just the reality of a business traveler. That’s why I was pretty pumped when American announced their new Choice Plus (and Choice Essential, to a lesser degree) fare options. Priority boarding isn’t something I need, nor extra checked baggage, but change fees add up quickly. At $150 to change, plus the possibility of a $75 same-day change on top of that, there was a ton of […]

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If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know I share stories about my family from time to time. The vast majority of pictures you see on our blog and Instagram that don’t have donuts are of my kids, not me. After almost 100 combined podcast episodes of me interviewing folks on Miles To Go and NowBoarding, the tables were finally turned on me! In this week’s episode, I’m the subject of the interview. Gilbert from God Save The Points does a hell of a job asking the questions. […]

Kids bring an incredible amount of joy to our lives. I never saw it coming, and I couldn’t be happier showing my kids the world. Every once in a while, we see life through their eyes and it can be equal parts embarrassing and hilarious. That’s this story.

Those low-cost carriers always have very appetizing fare sales. Who wouldn’t want to pay $20 to fly somewhere? But, what does $20 really buy you? I found out exactly what Frontier does (and doesn’t) offer customers on my first flight with them recently.

People talk about how bad the traffic is in places like Los Angeles with plenty of adjectives. And, it is quite bad. But, the traffic in DC is what I refer to as “stealthy bad”. It doesn’t get the same press that LA traffic does, but a trip that normally takes an hour can easily turn into a 3-hour ordeal. With visiting dignitaries, protests and construction as variables, weather can also wreak havoc on a system that consistently backs up during rush hour. For those of us that live in […]

As travel has gotten more stressful the benefits of elite status are even more valuable. In some cases, what used to be free for everyone is now only free for those customers that fly most frequently. I value my American Airlines Executive Platinum status more highly than any status I’ve earned, including 1K service with United Airlines. However, Global Services is another matter. For those not aware, Global Services is an invitation-only status level that United bestows on their best customers. What defines a best customer? Well, United doesn’t list […]

I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with the original announcement that American Airlines was creating bundled pricing that included change fees at a lower apparent cost. Things got a little better when American also announced they were expanding the timeframe you could request a same day change to your flight. And, then things started to get a bit screwy. It started with just one flight I couldn’t get to price right with Choice Plus as an add-on. But, then I did a bit more digging and found out […]

Venture Beat doesn’t think so, and I’m not 100% sure they’re wrong. But, before I discuss the article, a little background on why someone allergic to social media like me became a Foursquare nut. A few years ago, a company called TopGuest came up with this concept where you could earn airline miles and hotel points for checking in at various places on Foursquare. I can’t say I thought it was a terribly good business model, but they convinced a bunch of hotel chains to hand out miles for this. […]